WATER QUALITY IMPROVEMENTS
Post-Rainy Season Evaluation
San Diego County just made it through our rainy season!
Many of our businesses have felt the consequences of this rainfall. While the rainy season brings much-needed water to our area, it also presents challenges for businesses and our environment. Heavy rain not only can cause project delays, increased costs, and safety hazards for workers and customers, but it can also contribute to stormwater pollution. Stormwater runoff from commercial properties can carry pollutants like oil, sediment, and trash untreated to our water bodies. This degrades our water quality, harms aquatic life, and poses a public health concern.
|
Did Your Business Weather this Storm?
San Diego businesses have been great supporters of helping our waterways flourish by regularly taking action to prevent stormwater pollution and helping our waterways flourish! However, your business may have been unprepared or were prepared early on but didn’t maintain those best management practices throughout the rainy season. Did your business experience any of the following after a rainstorm?
- Partially washed away stockpiles or eroded slopes?
- Wind-blown trash?
- Blocked storm drains or inlets?
- Damaged or worn sandbags, gravel bags, straw wattles (or other temporary erosion barriers)?
Future Rainy Season Resources and Tips
While your business may have been stormwater-ready at the beginning of the rainy season it might not have carried through to the end of the rainy season. Start now to prevent pollution before the next rains begin. By reviewing the resources and tips below, your business can be ready throughout the year and make a huge impact in protecting our water quality, aquatic life, and community health for years to come.
-
Monitor existing stormwater Best Management Practices (BMPs) throughout the year. BMPs are techniques or controls used to prevent or reduce the discharge of pollutants into the storm drain system. For BMPs specific to your industry, check out the County’s WPO Guidance Handbook to Reduce Water Pollution and Industrial/Commercial Educational Resources webpage. The County provides a variety of business resources for automotive facilities, pest control operators, food establishments, and more to help prevent pollution from entering our storm drains and waterways. Regardless of your business sector, these are things which should be continually monitored:
- Check existing sandbags, gravel bags, and straw wattles for tears or holes and replace as necessary.
- Did your existing BMPs protect the area intended or do you need more or a different placement next time?
- Did anything erode and need to be replanted?
- Did mulch wash away? If so, it may be better to plant vegetation or add straw wattles or sandbags before the next rain.
- If materials being stored were elevated and covered, were they elevated high enough? Is the cover still in place and in good condition to protect the materials?
-
Resources for a Stormwater-Ready Business
-
Business Storm Preparedness Tips – As the next rainy season approaches, businesses should focus on conducting frequent inspections of their outdoor areas prone to trash build-up or spills, storage areas, and storm drain inlets. Key activities to prevent pollutants from leaving your property include elevating and covering materials stored outdoors and removing any vegetation, litter, and sediment build-up from storm drain inlets.
-
Act Now: Pollution Prevention Checklist – When rains are actually forecasted, it’s time to do a last-minute inspection and clean-up of your property. Easy actions like turning off your sprinkler system, sweeping up debris around dumpsters and storm drains, and securing lids on trash bins can go a long way to protect our waterways.
For more resources to help businesses prevent stormwater pollution year-round, go to the County’s Watershed Protection Program Webpage.
|
